Facing a barrage of criticism over her call for photo identity cards for guest workers, Government backbencher Mrs. Grace Bell says her detractors should propose solutions to Bermuda's illegal worker problem.

"We've got the whole Country's attention and we've got the Government's attention,'' Mrs. Bell told The Royal Gazette .

She had called for work permit holders to carry wallet-sized identity cards which would be produced on demand. But spokesmen for both the Progressive Labour Party and the National Liberal Party attacked the plan, saying it was reminiscent of the system of "pass cards'' for blacks that was recently abolished in South Africa.

Mrs. Bell's comments have also been criticised in a Gazette editorial, and in numerous letters to the Editor.

But yesterday, the St. George's South MP said she has also had "all kinds of support'' for her comments.

"The suggestion may sound outlandish to people, but Americans have Green Cards,'' for immigrant workers, she said.

Still, Mrs. Bell retreated on her earlier view that the cards should be produced on demand. Only Police and Immigration officials could demand to see the cards, not average citizens, she said.

Like Premier the Hon. Sir John Swan when he made comments about doing away with the presumption of innocence as a way of addressing Bermuda's crime problem, "I said that to be provocative,'' Mrs. Bell said. "I'm not anti-ex-pat.'' Mrs. Bell, who is managing director of Houseprouds Cleaning Services, said she declared her interest the first time she raised the subject in the House of Assembly. Since then, she had repeatedly spoken out about illegal workers, not only in the industrial cleaning field, but in landscaping, temporary agencies, and construction.

"It was never a personal thing that I took up,'' she said.

She noted that two companies had recently been fined for using illegal workers, and she understood that more charges were pending. She had several times provided information to the Immigration Department.

She again called for higher fines and more vigilant prosecutions of immigration offences.

As for her critics, "none of them have come up with any solution to the real problem'', she said.